It feels good to think we could all be great, that we’re not at the mercy of our DNA. But David Shenk, author of The Genius in All of Us: New Insights into Genetics, Talent, and IQ, also believes there’s a second reason: the dread it instills in us.

The notion that we’re now responsible for whether or not we become great can be a gnawing burden that the mind finds hard to relinquish.

A belief in inborn gifts and limits is much gentler on the psyche: The reason you aren’t a great opera singer is because you can’t be one. That’s simply the way you were wired. Thinking of talent as innate makes our world more manageable, more comfortable. It relieves a person of the burden of expectation. It also relieves us of distressing comparisons. If Tiger Woods is innately great, we can feel casually jealous of his genetic luck while avoiding disappointment in ourselves. If, on the other hand, each one of us truly believed ourselves capable of Tiger-like achievement, the burden of expectation and disappointment could be profound. Did I blow my chance to be a brilliant tennis player?

So after studying exceptional people and what got them there, what does Shenk recommend to those of us ambitious enough to start down that 10,000 hour road and strive for expertise?